How to Create a Facebook Page for Your Business

Is your business on Facebook? If it's not, you're missing out on reaching the 300 million+ active users who might be your next customers. Facebook is its own country, and will soon have a population more than that of the U.S. More and more businesses are finding ways to do business on this social networking site, so why aren't you there?

What Exactly Is a Facebook PAGE?

If you have a personal profile, you might wonder if it's the same as a business Page. It's not. A profile is for a person, and a Page is for a business or organization. Here you can post information about your company:

Hours, address and contact info

Photos of products or staff

Posts from your company's blog

Links to articles of interest

Special sales or contests only available to people who visit your Page

Videos

Press releases

While most people won't be on your website every day, millions will be on Facebook daily, so connecting with them through this channel helps them not have to leave Facebook to learn more about your brand.

Setting up and managing a Facebook Page is simple -- even if you're not technically minded.

How to Create a Page

Now that you're convinced your business needs a page, let's get to it. When you're on Facebook, click on Advertising at the bottom of any page. Next click Pages and then Create a Page. You'll have several options as to the type of business you own, so choose the one most appropriate and fill in the details. The more information your page includes, the more traffic your page will generate.

Once your page has everything you want on it (and look at other businesses to get ideas), publish it.

You can also enhance your Page with Facebook apps or customize a tab so that visitors see an image or promotion when first visiting your Page.

Getting People to Like Your Page

Now that you have a Page, you want people to visit it often.

One downside to Facebook Pages is that you can't connect to people the way you can from your profile, simply by "friending" them. People can click the "Like" button on your Page, but only if they know about it. It's your mission to promote your page through your contacts and social networking channels.

If you have a lot of contacts through your Facebook Profile, you can invite them to Like your company's Page. Make sure you reach out only to people who would genuinely be interested in your business (probably not your entire Friend list). Send a short note telling what benefit your contacts would get by visiting your Page (maybe it's a chance to win a weekly prize).

Put a button linking to your Page on your website to help others find it, tell your followers on Twitter if you use it, send an email to your contacts, and include a link to your Page on your business cards. Do whatever it takes to help people know that you're on Facebook and you want them to become a part of your community.

What Now?

It's important to update your Page regularly. Every day if you can. The more you update it, the more people will want to visit your Page. And from your Page, they'll click to your website. There's nothing worse than a brand setting up a Page and then abandoning it!

Every month, look at your website's analytics program to see how much web traffic your Facebook page is sending your site. It should be in the top 10 if you're doing a good job.